Olga URBANOWICZ
Born 1915, Pinsk, Russia (under control of czarist Russia).
Married 1941, Pinsk, Poland (under control of Soviet Union).
Was moved to Germany by Nazis in November 1943.
Held as forced labor until WW II ended, June 1945.
Lived in USA-run refuge camp in Augsburg until late 1949.
Moved to USA in 1949 as displaced person.
Died 1972, Indiana, USA, age 56.
Died from cancer of the colon.

Olga's Parents:
OLGA's FATHER AND MOTHER MARRIED: 11-Jan-1898, Pinsk, Russia.
OLGA's FATHER: Osip (Joseph) Matveev URBANOWICZ:
b. 1-Apr-1875, perhaps Lithuania (Poland was off the map in 1875.)
d. 5-Mar-1933, Pinsk, Poland.
"Osip" is also spelled "Yosef" and "Jozef." In English it would be "Joseph."
Joseph worked as a machinist and owned a restaurant in Pinsk.
Joseph was the son of Matvey (Matthew) URBANOWICZ and Katerin (Katherine), his wife.
OLGA's MOTHER: Yulianiya (Julia) Antonova MIRONOWICZ:
b. 10-Aug-1875, probably Pinsk, Russia.
d. 13-Feb-1958, Gelong, Victoria, Australia.
"Yulianiya" would be "Julianna" in English, or "Julia."
Julia was the daughter of Antoni (Anthony) MIRONOWICZ and Eufemia, his wife.
Julia's father was a music teacher.
INFORMATION ABOUT JULIA: Olga's descendants had believed that Julia died in WW II, but in August 2008 word came that Julia had survived WW II. After WW II, Julia moved to Australia as a displaced person, arriving in southeastern Australia in August 1949 when she was 74 years old. She was in two migrant camps before moving into the mainstream society of Australia: 1st, Bonegilla Migrant Camp, and 2nd, Somers Migrant Camp. Both camps were located in the Australian state of Victoria.

Julia had moved to Australia with her daughter Maria, with Maria's husband, and with Maria's two young sons. All were displaced persons.

Julia was diabetic; she developed gangrene in her legs, and both legs were amputated during her time in Australia. She died in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, at the age of 82 (on 13-Feb-1958). Geelong is a city southwest of Melbourne by about 40 miles. Julia's remains were interred at Barrabool Hills Cemetery in Highton, next to Geelong. (Burial information is HERE.) Registration number from the Victorian Death Index is 20780. A copy of her death certificate is here: Julia's Death Registration Information on the death registration matches for her father's full name and for her mother's first name. It is a match for the names of six of her nine children; it is a match for the birth order of several of the children. There appears to be a substitution of the name "Jadwiga" for the name "Nadia." Olga's name, however, is not on the list.

Below is a transcription of Julia's death notice as it appeared in the Geelong Advertiser:

URBANOWICZ -
On February 13, at Geelong, Julia, dearly loved wife of the late Joseph Urbanowicz, of 9 Clarke Avenue, Belmont, Geelong, loving mother of John (dec), Jadwiga (dec), Anthony (dec), Kazimicrz (dec), Roman (dec), Stanislaw (dec), Maria (Mrs. Maksymczuk), and Alexander (dec).  Aged 80 years.  Requiescat in Pace

The list of names mainly matches; however, the name "Olga" is not on the list.   Comparing the names from the archives in Belarus with the names in the death notice, there is this:  

There are two leftover names in the death notice: Jadwiga and Alexander. "Jadwiga" is a form of the name "Hedwig."

And there are two leftover names on the list assembled from names at the archives: Nadezia (or Nadia) and Iosif (or Joseph).

However, the name "Olga" is missing. Olga was about 26 when she lost contact with her mother, sister, and brother as German troops advanced against Russian troops in what was then the eastern strip of Poland, and is now (early 21st century) part of Belarus.  It was a puzzle that whoever gave the list of Julia's children remembered to include children who had died young, but forgot to include Olga. It was especially puzzling since the list likely was provided by Maria, who was just older than Olga.

It remained a puzzle until a by-chance telephone conversation with Maria's younger son: Olga's full name was either "Alexandra Olga" or "Olga Alexandra," although she usually was called "Olga" or "Olenka" by her mother and siblings, and the only name her husband and sons knew for her was "Olga." When Maria provided the information after Julia's death, Maria gave what she considered the more formal name for her sister -- "Alexandra" -- and apparently someone garbled that to "Alexander." Maria noted her sister as deceased because, so far as Maria knew, Olga Alexandra had not survived World War II. Sometimes secrets stay buried for decades; when their mother Julia died in 1958, Maria did not know that her sister was living in the USA. Olga died in 1972. Maria died in 1999 in Geelong, Australia, never knowing her sister also had survived the war. Maria was survived by a son born in 1946 and a son born in 1948.

In addition to Julia not knowing that her daughter Olga had survived the war, Julia also died not knowing that her son Stanislav had survived the war. He lived out his life in northern Poland, near Gizycko, and had three children, including twin sons born in about 1946 and still living in 2011. Stanislav's children and Maria's children found each other sometime before 2000.

Olga's Siblings:

1. Nadzieja Hedwig "Nadia" URBANOWICZ [sister]: b. 29-Nov-1898, Pinsk, Belarus; m. Roman Aloysious ZDROJEWSKA; son Jerzy Zdrojewska, b. 1925 in Pinsk, Poland; daughter Irene Zdrojewska, b. 28-Nov-1926, Pinsk, Poland. Nadzieja died 25-Aug-1944, Warsaw, Poland, during German bombing of Warsaw.

2. Antoni URBANOWICZ [brother]: b. 18-Jul-1900; d. 13-Jun-1902.

3. Ivan URVANOWICZ [brother]: b. 28-Aug-1902.

4. Iosif URBANOWICZ [brother]: b. 24-Dec-1904.

5. Stanislav Peter Stanley URBANOWICZ [brother]: b. 2-Jan-1908; locksmith; m. Maria KARPOWICZ, on 6-Feb-1940; d. about 1998 in Poland.

6. Kazimir URBANOWICZ [brother]: b. 17-Aug-1909; d. 21-Feb-1911.

7. Roman URBANOWICZ [brother]: b. 28-Feb-1911.

8. Marya Maria URBANOWICZ [sister]: b. 2-Jan-1914 in Pinsk, Belarus; she was working in factories in Pinsk in 1941 and 1942; m. Wlodzierj Walter MAKSYMCZUK; two sons born in Germany; moved to Australia with her mother, husband, and young sons; d. 10-Jan-1999 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. (Maria's granddaughter made contact with this researcher in August 2008. Read the email correspondence HERE.)
   NOTE: According to records found in the Archives in Pinsk, Maria's date of birth was 15-Jan-1913; however, she told her children that her birth date was 2-Jan-1914.

The only siblings of Olga known to be living by 1940 were Nadia, Stanislav, and Marya. When Olga left Germany as a displaced person in 1949, she believed that her mother had not survived the war, and that none of her siblings had survived the war; Olga died not knowing otherwise.

Olga's Descendants:
Four children; five grandchildren; four great-grandchildren.

1-- Olga  (1915-1972)
    2-- Victor (1942-1943)
    2-- Bogdan Jan (b. 1945)
        3-- Joshua  (b. 1979)
        3-- Sabrina Rose (b. 1984)
    2-- Jurek (1947-2014)
        3-- Sheila (b. 1965)
        3-- Bonita (b. 1967)
            4-- Stephanie/Renee (b. 1985)
                (Placed for adoption as an infant; reunited with birth mother in 2013.)
        3-- Donald Joseph (b. 1970)
            4-- Kristen  (b. 1988)
            4-- Donald Joseph II  (b. 1990)
            4-- Haley  (1992-2008)
    2-- Zygmunt (b. 1950)

Olga's Husband:
For Olga's husband's story, CHECK THIS.

The Polish Connection

From the Archives, in Minsk, Belarus

The following Archive Statement was received in November 2007:

from:

National Historical Archive of Belarus
Kropotkin St., 55. Minsk 220002 Belarus

ARCHIVE STATEMENT

The archives of Minsk Orthodox Theological Consistory, Mogilev Roman Catholic Consistory, Minsk Roman Catholic Consistory contain information relating to the genealogy of the persons named URBANOWICZ, who lived in Pinsk, Minsk, region, in 1898-1911:

For people who married in the area of Pinsk Fioderovski Cathedral in 1898, the registration book states:

(No. 1) – January 11, 1898 – marriage between Osip Matveev Urbanowicz, a peasant from Vilenski region, 23 years old, Catholic (his first marriage), and Yulianiya Antonova Mironowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, 23 years old, Orthodox (her first marriage).

Bridegroom’s witnesses: Ivan Gulewicz and Grigori Andreev Shmut, members of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk; bride’s witnesses: Adam Iosifov Chugaewicz and Grigori Lukin Shiyanowicz, members of the bourgeoisie.

For people who were born in the area of Pinsk Fiodorovski Cathedral in 1898, the registration book states:

(No. 153) – Nadezhda was born on November 29, 1898, and baptized on November 30. Her parents are Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz and Yuliya Antonovna, members of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk; godparents are Alexander Markov and Anna Grigorieva Samohvalova, members of the bourgeoisie.

For people who were born in the area of Pinsk Fiodorovski Cathedral in 1900, the registration book states:

(No. 127) – Antoni was born on July 18, 1900, and baptized on July 30.  His parents are Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Yuliya Antonova; godparents are Fiodor Iosifov Yazvin and Melaniya Antonova Mironowicz, members of the bourgeoisie. 

For people who died in the area of Pinsk Fiodorovski Cathedral in 1902, the registration book states:

(No. 56) – Anton, the son of a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, Osip Matveev Urbanowicz, 2 years old, died on June 13, 1902, and was buried on June 14. 

For people who were born in the area of Pinsk Fiodorovski Cathedral, Minsk region in 1905, the registration book states:

(No. 19) – Iosif was born on December 24, 1904, and baptized on January 23, 1905. His parents are Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz (Catholic) and Yuliya Antonovna (Orthodox), members of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk; godparents are Yason Ilin Samohvalov, a peasant from Gomel, and Melaniya Antonova Naumenko, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk.

For people who were born in the area of Pinsk Cathedral, Minsk, region, in 1909 -1911, the registration books state:

(No. 365) – Kazimir was born on August 17, 1909, and baptized on November 28.  His parents are Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz and Yuliya Mironowicz, members of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk; godparents are Alexander Halmanowicz and Maria Kapshewicz.

Comment: died on February 21, 1911.

(No. 57) – Roman was born on February 28, 1911, and baptized on April 16. His parents are Osip Matveev Urbanowicz and Yuliya Mironowicz, members of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk; godparents are Alexander Halmanowicz and Maria Kapshewicz.

For people who were born in the area of Pinsk Cathedral, Minsk region, in 1908, the registration book states:

(No. 30) –  Stanislav was born on January 2, 1908, and baptized on January 13. His parents are Osip Matveev Urbanowicz and Yuliya Mironowicz, members of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk; godparents are Matvei Tyminski and Kazimira Milashevskaya.

Addition: “Stanislav Urbanowicz and Maria Karpowicz got married on February 6, 1940” (translated from Polish language).

For people who were born, married, and died in the area of Pinsk Cathedral in 1911, the registration book states:

(No. 14) – Kazimir, 1 year old, died and was buried on February 21, 1911.  His parents are Iosif Urbanowicz and Yuliya Miranowicz. 

For people who were born in the area of Pinsk Cathedral, Minsk region, in 1912, the registration book states:

(No. 43) – Yuliyaniya, the wife of a member of bourgeoisie from Pinsk, Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz, was born on August 10, 1875, and joined the Orthodox Greek Russian Church on April 28, 1912.  Her godparents are Anton Lukin Mironowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Ivan Petrov Peregoncev, a resident of the 3^rd part of Pinsk.

(No. 44) – Nadezda was born on November 29, 1898 and joined the Orthodox Greek Russian Church on April 28, 1912 at the age of 14. Her parents are Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Yuliyaniya Antonova; godparents are Anton Lukin Mironowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Ivan Petrov Peregoncev, a resident of the 3^rd part of Pinsk.

(No. 36) – Ivan was born on August 28, 1902, and joined the Orthodox Greek Russian Church on April 28, 1912 at the age of 10. His parents are Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Yuliyaniya Antonova; godparents are Anton Lukin Mironowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Ivan Petrov Peregoncev, a resident of the 3^rd part of Pinsk.

(No. 37) – Iosif was born on December 24, 1904, and joined the Orthodox Greek Russian Church on April 28, 1912, at the age of 8. His parents are Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Yuliyaniya Antonova; godparents are Anton Lukin Mironowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Ivan Petrov Peregoncev, a resident of the 3^rd part of Pinsk.

(No. 38) – Peter (Stanislav) was born on January 2, 1908, and joined the Orthodox,Greek Russian Church on April 28, 1912, at the age of 4. His parents are Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Yuliyaniya Antonova; godparents are Anton Lukin Mironowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Ivan Petrov Peregoncev, a resident of the 3^rd part of Pinsk.

(No. 39) – Roman was born on February 28, 1911, and joined the Orthodox Greek Russian Church on April 28, 1912, at the age of 2. His parents are Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Yuliyaniya Antonova; godparents are Anton Lukin Mironowicz, a member of the bourgeoisie from Pinsk, and Ivan Petrov Peregoncev, a resident of the 3^rd part of Pinsk.

Be advised that Pinsk Roman Catholic Church, Pinsk Roman Catholic Deanery, Zarechny Pinski Roman Catholic Deanery, Pinsk Leschenskaya Uspenskaya Church, Pinsk Fiodorovski Cathedral, Pinsk religious committee, Pinsk district court, Pinsk city council, Pinsk police committee, Pinsk residents’ board, Pinsk elective legislative assembly, Pinsk city board, Pinsk district commission on election to legislative assembly affairs, Pinsk district interim inspection commission, Pinsk district land board, Minsk region recruiting office, Pinsk suburban committee, Minsk chamber of criminal court, Minsk chamber of civil court, Minsk united chamber of criminal court and civil court, Chancellery of Minsk civil governor, Minsk region committee, Minsk region office as well as the registration books for people who were born, married and died in the area of Pinsk Catholic Church in 1873-1924 and Pinsk Fiodorovski Cathedral in 1862-1914 do not contain other information relating to the persons named Urbanowicz, who lived in Pinsk, Minsk region, in the19^th and the early 20^th century.

The archive does not contain information on Iosif Matveev Urbanowicz’s foreign citizenship. The documents indicate that he was a peasant from Vilenski region; therefore, we advise that you contact Lithuanian State Historical Archive, Vilnius, for further research.

(A.K.) Golubovich,
Director

NOTE: The above letter arrived in the USA written in Belarusian and was translated into English by a Belarusian-educated woman.

The following archive statement was received Aug. 20, 2007:

ARCHIVE STATEMENT

Among the documents in the State Archive, Brest Region there is data indicating that the following people resided in Pinsk in 1919-1939:

            URBANOWICZ Usef, son of Matvei and Katherine, born in 1875. Worked as a machinist. Died in Pinsk on 5 May 1933.

            URBANOWICZ (maiden name Mironowicz) Ulia, born in 1873 (in the other document in 1877), daughter of  Antoni and Efimia, housewife, wife of URBANOWICZ Usef;

            URBANOWICZ Olga, daughter of Usef and Ulia, born on 1 July 1915.  Lived with another family as a governess in 1934.

            URBANOWICZ Maria, daughter of Usef and Ulia, born on 15 January 1913.  Moved to Warsaw on September 3, 1939 (the reason of the departure is not indicated);

            URBANOWICZ Stanislav, son of Usef and Ulia, born on 2 January 1908.  Worked as a machinist in 1931; moved to Lutzk on September 5, 1939 (the reason of the departure is not indicated);

            The URBANOWICZ family resided in Pinsk at different addresses: Vladimirskaya st., 3, Medovaya st., 1, in 1919-1939.

            In 1939-1940 the following people resided in Pinsk:

            URBANOWICZ Stanislav, son of Iosif and Ulia (maiden name Mironowicz), born on 2 January 1908 in Pinsk, Pole.  Resided in Pinsk at Medovaya st., 1; worked as a mechanic. Was married to Maria (her maiden name is not indicated);

URBANOWICZ Marya, daughter of Iosif and Ulia (maiden name Mironowicz), born on 15 January 1913 in Pinsk, Pole, housewife.  Resided at Medovaya st., 1, Pinsk;

In 1941-1944 the following people lived in Pinsk:

URBANOWICZ Olga Iosifovna, born on 1 July 1915 in Pinsk. Resided at Topolevaya st., 24 in 1941; worked as a ticket seller at the Pinsk railroad station;

URBANOWICZ Maria Iosifovna, born in 1913 in Pinsk. Arrived in Pinsk from Belostock on 20 October 1941. In 1941-1944 resided at different addresses:  Topolevaya st., 18, Yzkaya st., 11, Marianovskaya st., 38, Goncharskaya st., 61.  In 1941 worked as a dressmaker, in 1942 – at the match factory.  

Director, State archive, Brest region                 A.G. Karapuzova

No. 05-07/D-5

08.20.2007

The following was received May 2, 2007:

Republic of Belarus

Bureau of Civil Registration

Municipal Executive Committee

51 Dneprovskaya flotiliya st.

Pinsk, Brest region  225710                                          

tel. (8-0165) 35 96 56

RE: Statement of civil registration/ 2 May 2007 No. 1015

The Bureau of Civil Registration of the Pinsk Municipal Executive Committee has a record of death made on 06 May 1933 in Pinsk Roman Catholic church for Iosif Urbanowicz, b. 1 April 1875, son of Masei and Katazhina Urbanowicz.

The date of death is 05 May 1933. 

No corrections, additions, alterations to the record of death have been made. 

Chief, Bureau of Civil Registration                                     E.P. Voron